


Nightmares

by Zenith931



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-11-18 02:01:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11281422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zenith931/pseuds/Zenith931
Summary: A look into why my female Travelyan has issues with demons and possession due to events during Champions of the Just.





	Nightmares

The air was filled with ash, it choked her lungs. The smell of the air was stale, it reeked of sulfur and death. There was a smell of something wrong in the air, it reminded Aren of death, although it wasn't the same scent. She didn't know where she was. One moment, she was bounding up the steps of Therinfal Redoubt, approaching Lord Seeker Lucius. He had grabbed her and dragged her... here? No. She didn't know where she was, but she had a feeling it wasn't of the world she had been accustomed to.  
Black and green spikes stabbed through the earth from underneath. They looked unholy and wrong. They emitted a green light and a haze of smoke that hung in the air. The acrid smell of it stung her nostrils and crept into her lungs. She coughed as it felt like it was suffusing her being and the thought made her shiver.  
The unnatural voice of the demon whispered through her ears straight into her mind. She already knew what this demon was, she already knew what it wanted. It's voice was smooth, but unnatural. She wanted to scream, but at the same time was held enraptured by its speech. Is this shape useful? Will it let me know you?  
She cringed away and wanted to cry out. The words felt like they were burrowing into her brain. They embedded themselves into her thoughts and began to wrap themselves in the cloak of familiarity. They mingled with her own thoughts and she didn't know which thoughts were hers and which were the demons.  
You are selfish with your gory. But I will know you.  
The words were like steel wire, sewing itself through the fabric of her mind. They pierced and tore, cut into her mind. Parts of her mind began to be sewn shut from her consciousness, she felt her own personality, her own being begin to close away from her. The reality of the demon's thoughts and whispers crowded around her head and enveloped her. Secrets danced around, promising her everything.  
She wanted to resist. Aren was anything but compliant. But it felt so tempting to let herself go. To give herself to this demon. It would reward her, it would give her everything she might want and more... but it was wrong. There was something distinctly not right about this. Her thoughts of resistance sprung forth, but she could no longer tell if they were her thoughts or the demon's. She worried these thoughts were a trap, but she could no longer tell which was which.  
The image of her advisors appeared before her. They were stoic and stood like statues of wax with no emotion. Josephine's lips parted slightly and she could see a peek of her front teeth, but she didn't move. Cullen, the ex-templar commander who had visited her in the tavern, sought her out from her sorrow, and seemed to always be looking at her most peculiarly, stood immobile. Leliana floated forward, her voice was an unholy mix of the Nightingale and the demon. Aren couldn't understand the words not-Leliana spoke, but she felt them worm her way into her head. Aren watched in horror as Leliana produced a blade and drew it across Cullen's throat.  
Aren jolted and wanted to scream. The horror filled her and she wanted to cry out in horror and thrash out at the demon, but she stood paralyzed instead.  
Let me know you. Let me BE you.  
Suddenly, a soft sad voice that was not her own, not the demon's, but was nonetheless very familiar broke through. Echoes in your head. Envy is dead, but lives in your pain. Forget. Let go.  
Aren's voice began to return, but all she could do was stammer noises in horror, her eyes locked on the corpse of Cullen and the evil eyes of Leliana.  
Wake up.  
Wake up  
Aren --  
Her eyes flew open and the concerned face of Cullen was before her.  
"Wake up. You were having a nightmare." He said.  
Aren looked around and saw her own room around her. The covers of her bed were strewn around her, the sunrise streamed through the windows. Cole's voice whispered, He worries. You are hurt... And then Cole faded away.


End file.
